Nine people killed in shootings in two U.S. cities

Nine people were killed on Monday evening and night in two shootings in Philadelphia and Salt Lake City.

A gunman fatally shot three people at a business meeting before turning the gun on himself Monday night in an office building at the old Philadelphia Navy Yard, US police said. The gunman appeared to get upset at a board of directors meeting for a company that might have been an investment firm, Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross said.

The gunman also died. Another person was critically injured. Another two men were present but not shot, police said. The shooting took place in a second-floor conference room in a business at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center, police said. Ross described the scene inside the conference room as "utter chaos."

Police received an emergency call at about 8:30 p.m. of a shooting in Building 79 of the business park formerly known as the Navy Yard. Police said the man, who had a semiautomatic handgun, got into an argument about a money-related issue with others at the board meeting.

After the gunman shot the men in the conference room, he shot at police, who returned fire. The gunman then moved behind a door and shot himself, police said.

Shopping mall

In Salt Lake City a gunman killed five people in a shopping mall on Monday evening, before he was fatally shot, police said.

Details of the gunman's death were not disclosed, but the city's Deseret Morning News reported on its Web site that he was killed by an off-duty police officer who was in the mall at the time.

The shootings in the western U.S. city began about 8:45 p.m. (0145 GMT on Tuesday) at the Trolley Square mall in the downtown area, witnesses said. Salt Lake City police Detective Robin Snyder told reporters six people were killed, including the gunman, and that there were multiple injuries.